Sharpton: MLK's dream 'canceled'

The Rev. Al Sharpton on Tuesday called the Supreme Court ruling striking down a key part of the Voting Rights Act a “devastating blow” and said the court “just canceled the dream” of Martin Luther King Jr.

The MSNBC host and civil rights activist vowed on MSNBC to “mobilize the national community” to protect voting rights in the wake of the 5-4 ruling.

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“The president and Congress needs to hear from us,” Sharpton said. “We just announced yesterday the 50th anniversary March on Washington. This march will now be with Martin Luther King’s son around protecting voter rights. What they have just done is really revoked a lot of what Dr. King’s dream was all about. We build a monument to Dr. King, and part of, at least half, of what Dr. King’s dream was about was voter rights ’65. They’ve just revoked that. They just canceled the dream. And the children of the dream are not going to sit by and allow that to happen.”

Sharpton said civil rights activists are “not going to take it without a real fight and real resistance.” The court ruled that the coverage formula in Section 4 — which lays out how to determine what areas are required to get pre-clearance before making changes to their voting regulations — of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional.

“We’re talking about a problem that is nationwide,” he said. “It was basically in the South, but it’s nationwide that has now given a green light for states if they want to make changes without pre-clearance. That is a devastating blow to those of us that need that protection, particularly given the voter suppression screenings we saw in 2012. We’re not going to take it without a real fight and real resistance. And we will prevail as we did in 1965.”

The first thing Sharpton said he wants to see in light of this ruling is “the president’s continued commitment to protecting voters around the country.”

“But I think more than just hearing from the president, we are going to hear from people all over the country. Let’s not forget with all the voting suppression last year, there was record turnout. People stayed in line seven or eight hours because people are not going to be robbed of their right to vote,” he said.

And Sharpton said he and other leaders in the civil rights community will “call an emergency summit within days to mobilize the national community.”